Blayney in number two role at Haig Avenue

SOUTHPORT FC has announced Todd Blayney will be number two to Liam Watson next season.

The 31-year-old, who played in the youth academies at Wrexham, Liverpool and Tranmere, made the transition into coaching transition in his teens and stepped it up in his mid-twenties.

Blayney has been with the Steven Gerrard Academy for almost ten years now and holds the post of Head of Football.

It’s a role that involves player recruitment, getting youngsters who have released by Adacemies back into the system.

And, despite his youung age, Blayney, who will complete his UEFA A Licence this summer, believes his experience will dovetail successfully with Watson.

“I’m used to managing, used to leading, but I’m happy to complement too. Working with Liam will be great to continue my development,” he said. “There is a strong squad here and with a few new additions I feel we can be really competitive.

“I think I will bring a level of coaching on the grass, that will be my remit initially as assistant manager. I want to get to grips with that early doors in pre-season and nail down some principles of how we want to play. Next season we want to make sure we are competing in every game and at the top end of the table.

“I’m not one of those coaches who has a set style, over the course of the season you’re going to need to play different ways.

“I know at this level it’s physical and often quite direct but we want the players to enjoy the ball in the right areas, we want them to connect and excite, but for me good football is winning football, it’s about points.

“You can play really well some weeks and not get what you deserve. What satisfies me is playing a number of ways throughout the season to win campaigns and be successful.

“You have to be flexible. You’re going to come across lots of different clubs who play different ways and you are obviously being watched at this level, so it’s important you can score different goals, contribute in different ways and defend as well, so we have to be really robust and hard to beat.”

Chairman Ian Kyle said of Blayney: “He’s a young, dynamic assistant who ticks all the boxes in terms of what we should be looking for.

“He’ll bring a completely different dynamic to the playing style we’ve been used.

“He has all the qualifications education-wise and experiencewise despite his young age.

“It’s with a view to looking to the future that we’ve brought him in.”